DARREN Aronofsky, director of the award-winning Pi, loved Hubert Selby Jnr's 1978 novel Requiem For A Dream so much that he wanted to adapt it for the big screen. Aronofsky even gave the author a walk-on role.

In the film, Aronofsky has returned to his childhood haunts of Coney Island, setting the action in weather-beaten, run-down apartment blocks of urban New York. The film follows parallel stories about the lives and hopes of a widowed mother Sara Goldfarb (Burstyn) and her errant drug-selling teenage son Harry (Leto).

Whilst Sara wants her son to go far, Harry wants to stop having to steal his mother's TV to finance a series of drug deals, and wants to help girlfriend Marion (Connelly) to open a shop to sell her fashion designs. It's "pie in the sky" territory, but it keeps them both happy.

Sara's dream is to appear on her favourite TV gameshow. Her only problem is how to fit into that red dress that she wore in yesteryear. A revolutionary dietary plan seems to be the best answer.

Meanwhile, Harry and his compatriot Tyrone (Wayans) are moving up in the drugs world and, on the back of a few deals, things seem rosy. However, in a world of supply and demand, your reputation hangs on your last deal.

Aronofsky directs this tale with spellbinding ingenuity, and a tight grip on reality, drawing strong performances all round. He experiments with a variety of camera techniques, some of which he used in Pi. Here he uses split-screens, and special camera riggings such as the Heat-cam, the Vibrator-cam, and even the Snorri-cam that gets attached to an actor's body for that special close-up look! The results of this innovative approach mean that you work hard as a viewer, but you enjoy the experience.

Music is also an important weapon in the assault on the audience's senses, and here, composer Clint Mansell (who worked with Aronofsky on Pi) engages the talents of The Kronos Quartet to significant effect.

Overall, I would be surprised if you are not emotionally drawn after seeing this. The film's only weakness seems to be that the direction of the plot is fairly unoriginal - you might see the ending coming - but Aronofsky's deft direction keeps the emotional level taut right up to the final minutes. Strongy recommended.